Source: Wikipedia

On March 2, 1933, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 8.4 struck the Sanriku coast in the Thoku area of Honshu, Japan. The resulting wave wreaked enormous havoc.

The epicenter was situated offshore, 180 miles (290 km) east of Kamaishi, an Iwate city. The main shock, which registered 8.4 on the moment magnitude scale, happened at 02:31 AM local time on March 3, 1933 (17:31 UTC on March 2, 1933). The earthquake came close enough to the town to cause little damage, and it was roughly in the same area as the Sanriku earthquake of 1896. A magnitude 6.8 aftershock occurred roughly three hours after the primary shock, and 76 further aftershocks (all of which had a magnitude of at least 5.0) occurred over the course of the next six months. The Pacific Plate was the site of this intraplate occurrence, and the focal mechanism displayed typical faulting.

The shock itself did only minor damage, but the tsunami, which was said to have reached a height of 28.7 meters (94 feet) near Funato, Iwate, caused significant harm, wrecked many homes, and killed many people. Nearly 4,885 of the over 7,000 residences that were destroyed by the tsunami along the northern Japanese coastline were washed away. With a height of 9.5 feet (2.9 m), the tsunami was also noted in Hawaii, where it also caused little damage. There were 1,522 confirmed fatalities, 1,542 unaccounted for, and 12,053 injuries. The town of Tar, Iwate, which is now a part of Miyako city, was the hardest hit, with 98 percent of its homes destroyed and 42 percent of its inhabitants dead.